Price stickers eliminated from Massachusetts store shelves

The dawning of a new year brings a quiet retirement – grocery stores around the state can put their pricing guns on the shelf.

As of today, a new law went into effect in Massachusetts, eliminating the requirement that each item on grocery store shelves have a price sticker, making Massachusetts the last state in the country to do so.

Supporters say as long as a price is clearly marked on a shelf, it doesn’t matter if there is a price sticker affixed to each item. Opponents say consumers better be on their toes and more aware of the prices of cereal and canned goods they load in their shopping cart.

The law requires clear pricing of items to be placed on shelves, and self-scanners to be in place at a ratio of one for every 5,000 square feet of store space. Stores can purchase a waiver from the state in order to go tagless. There are protections in the pricing law. Checkout prices must be printed on an itemized sales receipt. In the event of incorrect pricing, the consumer gets the item at the lowest price, and if that is under $10, they get it for free.

Stores advocating for the law said eliminating the individual price sticker requirement would save money and time. Among one of the biggest reliefs is that when an item goes on sale, or there is a price change, individual stickers will no longer have to be removed and replaced, simply change the price on the shelf and the computer.

Kevin Bigelow and Rachael Hurley shopped in Wegmans in Northboro yesterday, where the Worcester couple said the change in the law wouldn’t make much of an impact on their trips to the grocery store.

Wegmans already has price scanners strategically placed around the store.

“I usually look for a price on the store shelf,” Mr. Bigelow said. “As long as there are scanners around if you have a question, and if it helps to lower costs, it’s fine.”

Grocery stores are going down the same path that department stores such as Macy’s, Kohl’s and Target have gone before them. It’s not unusual to find a price scanner in a clothing store to double-check or confirm a price tag on a sweater or pair of jeans.

“It’s something you see in lots of places, and you are starting to see it more and more,” said Leigh De Jordy of Boylston. “Hopefully this will be a savings passed on to the consumers.”

Leslie Cocks of Boylston doesn’t rely on individual price stickers. When she is shopping, she looks at the unit price, which is usually found on the shelf price.

Vidhi Misra doesn’t need a price tag. She is a savvy shopper who shops the sales, browsing the circulars or gravitating toward the sale signs highlighting the price.

“I very seldom look at a price sticker,” Ms. Misra said. “I pre-plan and once I put it in my cart, I already know the price.”

There was a split decision, however, in the bakery aisle where Kevin Floria and Doreen McElroy of Worcester shopped.

“I think it is absolutely phenomenal because it will cut our time in half,” Mr. Floria said. Mr. Floria, who works for the Nabisco division of Kraft Foods, said the changes to the pricing law are welcomed by vendors.

But not so much by Ms. McElroy.

“For those of us who want to know what the price is and compare, it’s going to be tough,” Ms. McElroy said. “If they are going to go with no price tags, you may not know what the price is until you get to the register. It really puts more responsibility on the consumer.”